Bob Casey: Hundreds could have been killed at Newtown

Sen. Bob Casey said on Monday that he changed his position on gun control after the massacre of 20 school kids in Newtown, Conn., because he was “haunted” by the idea shooter Adam Lanza could have killed “several hundred” children.

“At some point, I think it was Sunday night of that weekend, as I watched more and learned more about how he killed his mother — Adam Lanza, how he killed his mother and what he brought to that school, went to more than one classroom, went to two,” Casey said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And I began to think about what could have happened, and that is not the reality but the potential, that he was going to kill, not a hundred children or 20 children, he was going to try to kill several hundred and would have if he had the time and the capacity.”

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The Pennsylvania Democrat, who once earned “A” and “B” ratings from the National Rifle Association, announced after the shootings that he supported both a ban on assault weapons and extended magazines.

The Senate appears set to vote next month on a gun control package including increased mental health protections, universal background checks and a new gun trafficking law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the assault weapons ban will be offered as an amendment.

Sen. Pat Toomey, Casey’s Pennsylvania colleague, is one of 13 senators targeted by a new $12 million ad campaign from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.